EXCLUSIVE: TSA Hires Private Company to Circumvent Americans' Privacy Rights

A federal air marshal whistleblower is coming forward to detail how TSA, Federal Air Marshals, and contractors may be using geolocation data to monitor Americans’ social media and flight reservations without any oversight or investigation. The agencies are allegedly misusing the EVADE (Enhanced Video Analysis of Dust Exposures) program without proper vetting.

The whistleblower alleges that the TSA is circumventing Title 49 by hiring a private contractor to monitor Americans’ social media and flight reservations. Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official compilation of U.S. federal rules governing transportation and related security, overseen by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security.

Air Marshal National Council leadership detailed the privacy violations in a letter by saying, “We have received information that TSA/FAMS, through contractors, has and continues to use geolocating and monitoring of Americans' social media and flight reservations to watchlist people without any investigation or suspected wrongdoing. In one case, the wife of a Federal Air Marshal was labeled as a domestic terrorist and surveilled for over two years without any investigation or evidence of wrongdoing.”

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The letter goes on to say, “TSA has hired contract companies to subvert Title 49 by using social media to identify individuals who attended President Trump's rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, or were present in Washington, D.C. during that timeframe. Contractors then used flight reservation data to match identities, and TSA used this information--without any investigation or follow-up-to revoke TSA Pre-Check eligibility and place individuals on the Ouiet Skies and Domestic Terrorist watch lists. TSA's Intelligence and Analysis division is, by law and policy, not allowed to use Americans' social media content as the sole basis for placing someone on a watch list. Despite this, TSA continues to use contractors for real-time social media monitoring to this day.”

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has developed EVADE, software that syncs video footage of workplace activities with real-time measurements of dust exposure. By aligning these data streams, they claim, EVADE helps users identify specific tasks or processes that generate elevated levels of respirable dust or silica, enhancing efforts to mitigate occupational health risks.